A PENNY for the individual thoughts of George Boughey and Jamie Spencer over the last week.

The former drew a blank at Royal Ascot but more significantly lost 12 horses from owner Sheikh Abdullah Almalek Alsabah which included the very promising colt Asadna, with the Kuwaiti native voicing stern criticism towards the young trainer for his decision to run the impressive Ripon maiden winner in the Coventry Stakes.

In contrast Spencer will have revelled in his success at the Royal meeting, where he brought through Witch Hunter and Khaadem for their respective wins in the Buckingham Palace Stakes and Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes in trademark style.

It was the Irish native’s 40th Group 1/Grade 1 success on the flat, and 41 top level wins when you include his success on Pizarro in the Champion Bumper all those years ago.

Boughey and Spencer team up with Via Sistina in the Group 1 Yulong Pretty Polly Stakes (3.25) at the Curragh today and the six-length Dahlia Stakes scorer was vying for favouritism in the 10-furlong contest yesterday evening.

Speaking to The Irish Field, Spencer said: “She won really well the last day. She had only just won by a half length or a neck in a Group 3 in France at the back end of last year and that wasn’t an obviously strong race but she has clearly stepped up over the winter and the assessor raised her to 115 so he saw it as a really good performance.

“We’d love to see a bit of rain for her. I think George always planned to run her wherever he could find ground with a bit of kindness in it, so every drop will help.

“It’s always nice to come back to the Curragh where I’ve had lots of big wins. It’s a great track to ride and hopefully we’ll have a bit of luck.”

Seven of Spencer’s Group 1 wins have come at the Curragh including his first on Tommy Stack’s Tarascon in the Irish 1000 Guineas in 1998.

For Boughey, a win today would be a second top level success after Cachet’s win in the 1000 Guineas, but also serve as a very timely reminder of his talents, given Via Sistina has improved significantly since joining him. On just three starts for Boughey, the daughter of Fastnet Rock has improved from a rating of 97 to 115.

There are seven British raiders altogether at the Curragh over the weekend which includes Michaela’s Boy for Mick Appleby in the Rockingham (3.00) tomorrow.

A victory in the €100,000 premier handicap would represent the shrewd trainer’s first winner in Ireland.

“We’ve been hoping for a dry few days and we’re keen to avoid any soft in the going description,” Appleby told The Irish Field.

“He ran very well last time at Royal Ascot in the Palace of Holyroodhouse Stakes [when finishing eighth of 26 runners]. He’s a three-year-old who seems to take his racing well. We finished second in this race a few years ago when Caspian Prince was just touched off [in 2018] and hopefully this horse can run well too.”